Illegal workers rife in rural Victoria      :(

    Andrew Rule
    Herald Sun
    March 27, 2014 8:00PM




Illegal fruit and vegetable pickers are rife in rural Victoria, writes Andrew Rule.    

THE man on the line thought he had an Australian vegetable farmer wanting to hire cheap illegal labourers on the black market. He was salivating over the easy money he’d rake off.

He could send people anywhere, he boasted. You want workers in Victoria or Queensland? Or England? He could do that, too.

When he realised he was talking to a reporter out to expose black market “gang masters” — not someone wanting to pay him to pimp cheap workers — he hung up.

It’s a shady business and he didn’t want to be caught. You can bet nothing much has changed since that conversation in 2009. The racket is still going strong on some Australian farms, not to mention building sites.

This week, Emma Field of The Weekly Times broke the first of a two-part special on illegal workers allegedly labouring long hours for low pay on Gippsland properties that produce tonnes of salad leaves.

Part one was carefully worded by the lawyers to say that one of Victoria’s “biggest horticultural enterprises” stands accused of using illegal workers in unsafe work conditions.

Part two, next Wednesday, will expose other properties exploiting the same alleged rort — and accuse compliant politicians and public servants of turning a blind eye to an industry that relies so much on “illegals” that no one seems to want to police it.      :(

Field has spent months gathering fresh evidence at the East Gippsland end of a racket that is all over eastern Australia.

From Mildura to Bairnsdale, “illegals” have been packed into old houses and charged exorbitant rates for it. I have seen tumbledown dumps at Sale and Swan Hill where 15 people share three bedrooms and one overloaded septic tank.

Shadowy “gang masters” use fleets of vans to pick up the pickers at dawn to ferry them to and from properties. People being paid as little as $13 an hour are stitched up for rent and transport so that their “take-home” pay can be less than $10 an hour.      :(

In the rare event of Immigration officers raiding them, more “tourists” and “students” fill their place.

Most are Asian, some are from the Middle East. Many are on student visas issued by questionable people for questionable courses. Others are on tourist visas and therefore forbidden to work in Australia.

It all hinges on a loophole: growers and orchardists retain the “contractors” to provide labour and the contractors employ the workers. This puts a “firewall” between growers and workers.

The “illegals” tolerate bad conditions because they fear being deported. But they can be working an angle, too.

Bogus students pay for dodgy courses, hoping to qualify for permanent residency as they work under the radar. It’s migration by stealth, with the silent collusion of everybody who stands to make money. The racket is an open secret. Around Sale, Shepparton, Swan Hill and Mildura, locals quietly point out the shabby, overcrowded houses and the white vans with the darkened windows.   :(      

Everybody knows why the pickers tend to wear not just hats and sunglasses but other headgear that obscures their faces.

Everyone knows that a house worth between nothing and $200 a week is charged out at $80 a head or more — effectively extorting more than $1000 a week.

In Britain, where 23 Chinese illegal immigrants were drowned while gathering shellfish in 2004, at least the black market racketeers can get up to 10 years’ jail. Here, they seem to get a nod and a wink.

AND those running properties where the suspected illegal workers toil don’t seem to have to endure much more than occasional negative publicity and criticism by frustrated union officials.      :(

The contractors and owners mostly have the workers bluffed and docile. There have been exceptions.

“It’s the wild west out there in the season,” a contact once told me about the summer picking season in the Swan Hill district. “The pickers are covered up so you see nothing but their eyes and if someone official turns up they scatter and run.”

One farmer up that way was known as a hard man who stood over “illegals”, refusing to pay the agreed amount after weeks of work, knowing they were too frightened of being caught and deported to resist.      :(   

But he met his match when he tried the same tactics on some Irish, English and German backpackers. They chased him and broke the lights and aerials on his vehicle. Since then, locals say, he hires only non-English speakers.

Another notorious grower, north of Nyah, goes further. He hires illegal workers, doesn’t pay them for several weeks then secretly informs the Immigration Department so the workers get arrested at night and taken away.

The grower gets free labour. The department gets arrests. Everyone’s a winner except the workers. But they keep coming.      :(

Let’s see what the politicians and bureaucrats say about it when The Weekly Times hits the doorstep with more allegations next week.

maybe put the fruit growers in jail... what do you think crook????..

I mean god these did you call them illegals... dont pay union fees do they.?

I could take you to places using illegals right now.

I could take you to places that never abide by any OHS rules.

I could take you to places that treat their staff like absolute crap.

Out of sight out of mind…..

cods wrote on Mar 28^th, 2014 at 8:11am:

maybe put the fruit growers in jail... what do you think crook????.. I mean god these did you call them illegals... dont pay union fees do they.?

No, he didn’t call them illegals, the article he quoted did. D’uh! I bet the German and Irish pickers were illegals—visa overstayers.

Maybe they don’t pay tax either.

Asylum seekers arriving by boat are not illegals. It is not illegal to seek asylum.

People working in Australia without a valid visa are the REAL illegals.

If Morrison was serious, he would crack down hard on this practice. Why isn't he?

Dear Crook,
how come you haven't upgraded yourself to Lord Crook or maybe Sir Crook?

What  if one of those illegal workers has an accident?
Are they protected by "workcover" ?

No Sir Bobby, I will not put myself above the good people.  Crook will be fine.  These workers would not be protected by workcover.      :(      

Well, at the very least the students are trying to earn something with their labour.  It is not like they are picking opium poppies.  I think we need more of these than dole bludgers who wont even do that. 

I once saw a TV show on this topic.  The land owners needed those workers, otherwise their fruit would just rot on the trees. 

And another thing is that if you are granted student visa, I think you can actually work part time anyway - 40 hours a fortnight or something.   

Bobby. wrote on Mar 28^th, 2014 at 8:54am:

Dear Crook, how come you haven't upgraded yourself to Lord Crook or maybe Sir Crook? What  if one of those illegal workers has an accident? Are they protected by "workcover" ?

he is really letting the darkside down isnt he??

it wont be long hes about the only one left...pathetic.

its all abbotts fault anyway and if one gets injured they will be killed and buried and who will be any the wiser....

we have no knowledge of them being here.. ::) ::)

aint that a fact.

wrote on Mar 28^th, 2014 at 9:04am:

No Sir Bobby, I will not put myself above the good people.  Crook will be fine.  These workers would not be protected by workcover.      :(

Yes - you're not the type to kiss the Queen's bum.

Workers are exploited by Libbo capitalists.

tickleandrose wrote on Mar 28^th, 2014 at 9:06am:

Well, at the very least the students are trying to earn something with their labour.  It is not like they are picking opium poppies.  I think we need more of these than dole bludgers who wont even do that.  I once saw a TV show on this topic.  The land owners needed those workers, otherwise their fruit would just rot on the trees.  And another thing is that if you are granted student visa, I think you can actually work part time anyway - 40 hours a fortnight or something.

gillard made it legal for fruit growers to bring in pickers from o/seas... was that another pear shaped idea from the left.. that didnt work.

How good it would be, if people were paid no less than the minimum award rates of pay.      :(

tickleandrose wrote on Mar 28^th, 2014 at 9:06am:

Well, at the very least the students are trying to earn something with their labour.  It is not like they are picking opium poppies.  I think we need more of these than dole bludgers who wont even do that.

Predictable baseless dole bludger smear. You obviously don't know that fruit and vegetable pickers are paid a piece rate. The more they pick, the more they earn.

You've also not said a word against these criminals who are using illegal labour to undercut their honest competitors.

wrote on Mar 28^th, 2014 at 9:04am:

No Sir Bobby, I will not put myself above the good people.  Crook will be fine.  These workers would not be protected by workcover.      :(

You provide aid and comfort to the poor. Methinks you are a saint without title.

Quote:

gillard made it legal for fruit growers to bring in pickers from o/seas... was that another pear shaped idea from the left.. that didnt work.

Ah! I remember something along these lines, although I am not sure which government.  There was a ACA segment on this issue before.  On one side, they had fruit growers who talked about how no local Australians wanted to do this despite months of advertising, and that their fruits are rotting.   On the other, they had an Australian youth looking for work, but couldnt find any. 

I guess the government took the fruit grower's words.   But does this only happen in Victoria?  What about other states?

Bam wrote on Mar 28^th, 2014 at 9:22am:

wrote on Mar 28th, 2014 at 9:04am: No Sir Bobby, I will not put myself above the good people.  Crook will be fine.  These workers would not be protected by workcover.      :(       You provide aid and comfort to the poor. Methinks you are a saint without title.

But Tony can't give him a sainthood.

---

tickleandrose wrote on Mar 28^th, 2014 at 9:23am:

Quote: gillard made it legal for fruit growers to bring in pickers from o/seas... was that another pear shaped idea from the left.. that didnt work. Ah! I remember something along these lines, although I am not sure which government.  There was a ACA segment on this issue before.  On one side, they had fruit growers who talked about how no local Australians wanted to do this despite months of advertising, and that their fruits are rotting.   On the other, they have an Australian youth looking for work, but couldnt find any.  I guess the government took the fruit grower's words.   But does this only happen in Victoria?  What about other states?

No, it doesn't happen only in Victoria. It's Australia wide. That being said, the pickers are mostly on tourist or student visas. It's a good way to see the country and make a little cash in the process.

Illegal workers detained in Gippsland farm blitz

Posted 1 hour 8 minutes ago
ABC News.

The Department of Immigration has confirmed it raided farms in the Sale area in Gippsland earlier this month and detained 10 illegal immigrants.   

Concerns have been raised this week about big vegetable farms employing and underpaying illegal immigrants for vegetable picking.      :(

The department says the arrests were part of an ongoing investigation on Gippsland farms but would not release the names of the businesses involved.

Employers hiring illegal workers can face fines of $20,000 and two years imprisonment and companies can be fined up to $100,000 per worker.      :)

tickleandrose wrote on Mar 28^th, 2014 at 9:06am:

Well, at the very least the students are trying to earn something with their labour.  It is not like they are picking opium poppies.  I think we need more of these than dole bludgers who wont even do that.  I once saw a TV show on this topic.  The land owners needed those workers, otherwise their fruit would just rot on the trees.  And another thing is that if you are granted student visa, I think you can actually work part time anyway - 40 hours a fortnight or something.

Earn something illegally and by accepting cash in hand the reduces conditions and pay for workers overall.

You want workers in the current climate of high cost of livng - you pay the wages required, otherwise you do not demand, as you just did, that the unemployed take slave rates to get some miserable income that will not pay their way in this society.

If the land owners will not pay for the picking - then let the fruit rot, and the whole deal will collapse and we can start again.

Being able to work does not entitle you to accept low wages and conditions.  These are mandated here for the good of all.

It's rife in the fruit picking industry, the building industry and the meat industry. Primo was recently busted for this, dirty rotten cheapskate criminals. Australians are losing their jobs because of visa over-stayers who are willing to live in a container ship and work for next to nothing.

International business corporations that rip us off badly, not the local farmer who's doing it tough and can't pay award wages. Our government purposely turn a blind eye to this, they don't want to upset the multi-nationals.

Never mind the fruit growers, they should raid a few cleaning companies and so called contractors

miketrees wrote on Mar 28^th, 2014 at 10:11pm:

Never mind the fruit growers, they should raid a few cleaning companies and so called contractors

Hear, hear....

Ex Dame Pansi wrote on Mar 28^th, 2014 at 2:12pm:

It's rife in the fruit picking industry, the building industry and the meat industry. Primo was recently busted for this, dirty rotten cheapskate criminals. Australians are losing their jobs because of visa over-stayers who are willing to live in a container ship and work for next to nothing. International business corporations that rip us off badly, not the local farmer who's doing it tough and can't pay award wages. Our government purposely turn a blind eye to this, they don't want to upset the multi-nationals.

Hear, hear.....

Might I add that I was approached by a British backpacker today working for Careflight (I'm already a support crew member) - and seeking to raise funds.

(I offered him a good coffee, but he had made no 'sales' so he needed to get on)..

They were paid on commission to make door-to-door for sales.....

Later, as I drove my courtesy bus - I spotted more in the next town...

This is one area that is both exploiting these people and also abusing work practices here in Oz.

This entire area of work needs to be looked at.